January 8, 2009

More than 30,000 people were urged to leave their flood-endangered western Washington homes as snowmelt and rain swelled rivers and caused mudslides and avalanches that engulfed neighborhoods and roadways. Warmer temperatures and heavy rains were rapidly melting the deep snow that dumped on the Cascade mountains over the weekend. Ten inches of snow melted in a 12-hour period at Snoqualmie Pass, according to Andy Haner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Rising waters led state highway crews to close a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 around Chehalis on Wednesday evening. Authorities feared Interstate 5, which carries 10,000 trucks a day, could be closed for days, just as it was in a similar flood in December 2007. (19 images)

A truck drives down a flooded Interstate 5 in the Chehalis and Centralia area in SW Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. AP / Bruce Ely / The Oregonian

A barn and house are surrounded by Chehalis River flood water Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Chehalis, Wash. Rain and high winds lashed Washington state Wednesday, causing widespread avalanches, mudslides, flooding and road closures from rapid snowmelt and the three main highways across the Cascade Range were closed. AP / Elaine Thompson

Jeannene Ramos, a worker at the farm watches the water slowly rise up the porch of her home, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009 in Duvall, Wash. Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes Thursday, brought freight trains to a standstill and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country. AP /The Seattle Times / Mike Siegel

Long-time friends and neighbors Sandy Swenson, left, and Kathy Ellenberger embrace after visiting their flood-damaged homes in Puyallup, Wash., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. The women had evacuated their homes at the Wheel In Motor Home park the evening before and returned Thursday to survey the damage. AP / The News Tribune / Janet Jensen

Motorists push their way through high water on Highway 101, south of Gearhart, Ore., Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, as heavy rains and melted snow flooded rivers in western Washington. AP / The Oregonian / Thomas Boyd

Cars and houses are flooded by the Puyallup River Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, just outside Tacoma,Wash. This flooding occurred late Wednesday. AP / The Seattle Times / Barry Fitzsimmons

Violet Thorp, 82, is comforted by her granddaughter Christy Reitan as she tries to sleep on a cot inside the gymnasium of Stanwood high school Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009 after being evacuated from The Josephine Sunset Home, a senior home in Stanwood, due to flooding. AP / The Seattle Times / Chris Joseph Taylor

Volunteers help sand bag an area along Highway 532 on the outskirts of downtown Stanwood, Wash. Thursday evening Jan. 8, 2009. Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest kept tens of thousands of people from their homes Thursday, brought freight trains to a standstill and stranded hundreds of trucks along the major highways that link Seattle's busy ports with markets around the country. AP / The Seattle Times / Chris Joseph Taylor

David Archey, of Snohomish, Wash., navigates what was once the side yard of a Snohomish family while helping friends and family evacuate their home on Thursday Jan. 8, 2009. AP / The Herald / Kevin Nortz

Gretchen Abernathy, right, who uses a wheelchair, is rescued from her home Thursday morning, Jan. 8, 2009, west of Snohomish, by firefighter Keith Simmons, after the Snohomish River flooded Abernathy's house. AP / The Seattle Times / Mark Harrison

Abel Puris holds on to his hot tub after it was picked up by flood water from the Chehalis River in Centralia, Wash., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. AP / Seattle Post-Intelligencer / Scott Eklund

Ron Swenson, carries two Labrador puppies to dry ground at the Wheel In Motor Home between Tacoma, and Puyallup, Wash. on Thursday. Jan. 8, 2009. The pets had been stored in a vehicle since Wednesday evening when Swenson and his wife evacuated their home. AP / The News Tribune / Janet Jensen

Workers scramble to remove a building log jam on the Puyallup River in Fife, Wash. as the swollen river continued its record swell on Wednesday Jan. 7, 2009. Incoming tide at the river's delta and continued rain worried officials that the river would top levees and flood neighborhoods in Fife and Puyallup, Wash. AP / Seattle Post-Intelligencer / Joshua Trujillo

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